Margaret Kimberley

As the presidential campaign season heats up every day brings news of endorsement one-upmanship. In one week we witnessed Al Gore endorsing Howard Dean, Charles Rangel and other black elected officials endorsing Wesley Clark, South Carolina Black Congressman James Clyburn endorsing Dick Gephardt, and Al Sharpton angry because no one had endorsed him. It was…

In Phoenix, Arizona a 67-year old white man mixed anti-anxiety medication with alcohol and then got behind the wheel of his car. He struck another car but didn’t stop as required by law. He was apprehended only because another motorist followed him and called police. When the heavily medicated driver finally encountered police he used…

One of the first things I noticed when George W. Bush campaigned for the presidency was his obvious love of putting black people in photo opportunities. How better to prove the compatibility of conservatism and compassion than with a healthy dose of contented black faces. I always imagined his advance team screaming into their cell…

There are certain little lies that everyone tells. We don’t intend to be malevolent, but we know what sounds like the right thing to say and we comply. It sounds right to say that we won’t watch the accident by the side of the road. We fuss and fume about rubber necking motorists but the…

“There aren’t any black serial killers.” This refrain was on the lips of most Americans in the fall of 2002 before two suspects were apprehended in the Washington, D.C. area sniper shootings. Black people are so accustomed to being suspect, to being thought of as the worst, that we hang on to any and every…

It may seem strange to write about the celebration of Martin Luther King’s birthday two months in advance. But I do feel that time is of the essence. We can’t wait until January if we are to eradicate the sorry spectacle we have allowed Martin Luther King Day to become. I both anticipate and dread…

The Reverend Al Sharpton is correct when he says that there will be a shock when we witness his vote-getting abilities in the upcoming presidential primaries. I predict that he will get 90% of the black vote and larger than expected numbers of votes from other groups as well. I find it laughable that his…

Last week a study was released in the journal Science showing that the damage done by feelings of exclusion and isolation create brain activity akin to that caused by physical pain. The study was conducted by encasing a subject in an MRI measuring brain activity. The person in MRI was told they were playing a…

In September 2003 the Brookings Institution released the report, Work and Marriage: The Way to End Poverty and Welfare. The first specious premise of the report is that advocates of the poor have spent too much time demanding increases in public assistance funding instead of demanding increases in employment. It is news to me that…